


Incentive

by alumort



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Gen, Hyuuga Neji Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-21
Updated: 2020-05-21
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24307783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alumort/pseuds/alumort
Summary: Only two classes are fully present during exam day; the one of Neji and the one of Gai. How they manage to convince the kids to always assist is not a mystery; the whole village was aware of it. The incentive was...
Relationships: Metal Lee & Mitsuki, Metal Lee & Taketori Houki
Kudos: 13





	Incentive

**Author's Note:**

> I was talking with a Twitter friend and well.   
> Neji survives the war but his body is too wrecked to go on missions, Gai doesn't go to missions either, so they go to teach at the academy instead.  
> I did it as general as possible but. There's MitHouMetal if you squint very, very well.(first it's HouMetal and Mitsuki crushes on Metal without knowing at all)  
> And uh. There are more background stuff but this is all I wrote. It's in Mitsuki's perspective.  
> Tell me if it's OOC, because I never wrote him. Hope you enjoy!

It was a bright morning in Konoha, streets filled with people as usual. 

The unusual thing were the fifty children outside the academy, their excitement; no kid in their sane mind would be happy to have a  _ math _ test. Yet all students from class A and B were present, smiling widely. Kids from other classes didn't have the same happiness they did, serious faces with nervousness showing through the way they held to their bags. It was no secret that children made excuses to miss in test days. It was no secret that Gai and Neji used an incentive for their students to go, one that was so good and consistent that worked every year, with every kid. Mitsuki didn't know what it was, having just joined to the Academy. Metal told him it was fun, and that he shouldn't stay at home; so he listened to his friend, wondering what could be so good for them to collectively agree in assisting to the test. They had Taijutsu first, History later, and then the feared subject ( _ Mitsuki liked it, but most did not. He quietly questioned the reason; Mathematics were consistent, small procedures that always gave results if done well. The boy didn't understand why everyone hated it, but he never talked about his love for numbers in fear they would dislike him too. _ )

Gai was always very nice in the tests, Houki would tell him in the recesses, when Metal and him made silly challenges together. They could ask him how to do the exercises and he was more than glad to help. So, why did everyone disliked Math so much? Their teacher was nice and taught well. It was a wonder that stayed at the back of his mind, his attention directed at the paper and pencil in his hand.

~

"Has everyone finished?", Gai asked his students, who all nodded at the same time. They were saving their school supplies in their bags, the long-waited last hour of class ending, the exams in the teacher's desk. Everyone was smiling widely, as if they were going to get a gift. In a way, that was true. 

"I'm sure uncle Neji will win today!", Boruto told Inojin, who told Mitsuki, who couldn't imagine what could the other teacher win at. Based in what he heard, Gai was his mentor, so there wasn't many chances at beating him in a fight... being in a wheelchair didn't made him less able to defeat his oldest students. Wait, were they going to  _ actually _ fight?

It was time to go home, and their parents weren't there yet. The students from other classes were going away... Maybe class A and B were going in a field trip, even if Mitsuki didn't remember anyone talking about one. A surprise. The headmaster of the school was outside, so maybe it  _ was _ a field trip. He was smiling at them.

"Remember to not go too fast", he warned Gai, and then Neji when he came with his students following him. Houki instantly went to talk to Metal, who always brightened up in his presence. They were good friends, like Sarada and Chocho. He felt an awkwardness at seeing them chatting between the other, but he wasn't going to interrupt.

"Don't worry, Iruka. I have my twenty baby carriers ready", the long haired man replied, rolling his eyes as if that was something obvious. Mitsuki frowned; baby carriers? And of the amount of his students? Now that he looked at him better, the man wasn't lying… strange accessories.

"Okay kids! Come here!", his own teacher announced, moving with his wheelchair closer to the children. All of the class was beaming with joy, approaching him quickly.

"Come, Mitsuki!", Metal told him, smiling. " _ This _ is the good part of the exam day."

"What will we do?", he asked him, twisting his head to the side a little; to show his curiosity. "Is this a field trip?"

"Something like that", his friend agreed, walking to follow his grandfather. "It started as a challenge, but it's an exam tradition now..."

"Challenge? They fight and make us watch...?"

"What? No". Metal giggled a bit at his question, and Mitsuki ended up feeling even more confused. "It's a race."

Oh. So that's why Neji had an...  _ interesting _ amount of baby carriers on. Gai was waiting patiently for them to join the crowd of kids in his wheelchair, that now seemed bigger than before... was it upgraded by someone? Or was it just for the plot of this story? Mitsuki thought it was the second thing, but he still sat with the rest of his classmates, looking at them in silence. Stopped breaking the fourth wall.

Houki waved from Neji's back, who waited for his mentor to go to his side. Gai did so, somehow managing to move his wheelchair with twenty kids in it... he was very strong. Well, if he wasn't, he wouldn't be a teacher at the academy. He and Neji almost die in the war, and their bodies were affected beyond reparation in different ways. They couldn't go to missions, but they did their best to train the new generation of ninjas. 

"Where will we go today, Gai?", the brunet asked his mentor, smiling. Sarada noticed this and imitated him; he was usually very neutral with his expressions. Mitsuki was almost a hundred percent sure that his class made bets on who could make him laugh, but he couldn't guess who won them. The brunet was in a running stance, ready to start moving in any second.

"What about the training grounds? They have to know where they'll train between mission and mission!", Gai replied. "We went to the Hokage Rock last time."

"Fair enough. Let's go there."

Boruto gave his uncle a thumbs up when their teacher rolled at his side, waiting for Iruka to give them the okay to start. The headmaster wrote something in his phone, before sighing and nodding at the other men. And then they started, and Mitsuki barely managed to grab himself to Inojin's shoulder in the rush. They were going in a speed that he didn't imagine Gai could reach, even if he  _ knew _ his teacher was stronger than all of them together. His classmates were all giggling, enjoying the wind in their hair. Even Metal was enjoying himself, who was always so quiet and afraid they would make fun of his laugh. 

He could feel his heart in his throat, but he didn't feel afraid. The houses passing quickly through his vision, to be slowly replaced by trees... it was an interesting gaze, to put it simply. Looking behind, he could distinguish Neji's brown hair, but they were moving too fastly to guess what students were being carried in his chest.

"Mister Gai, he's behind us now", Mitsuki pointed out, staring at his teacher now, who simply grinned and nodded.

"He's getting faster! He'll win today!", Boruto commented, and something told the boy with blue hair that he always cheered more for his uncle than for their teacher. He didn't blame him, but it was  _ hilarious _ to see the other children stick out their tongues at him with his words, clearly on Gai's side. "Last time we couldn't even see him!"

"He's still too  _ slow _ ", Shikadai muttered, resting in Chocho's back while she looked to the sides. "We'll graduate and he'll  _ still _ be too slow."

"You can't know that, Shikadai! After all, Neji is my student as much as any of you are", Gai said, still concentrated in the path. "Students can surpass their teachers! And he's still full of youth! But…  _ today _ is not the day he'll surpass me!"

"YAY!", the children exclaimed in a chorus, with a tired groan from the Nara boy and Mitsuki simply covering his ears in responss.

The path was shorter than expected, but everyone had their fun. Even if they were too loud, it was understandable thanks to their excitement. How the wind hit his face in the travel, refreshing air flooding his nostrils, was better than doing it with a simple run. It was... awesome.

In the training grounds, they found some of the children's parents- those who were ninjas, Mitsuki assumed, or they wouldn't be able to keep up. Maybe Iruka had messaged them, to tell where they would go. Neji arrived shortly after Gai, smiling brightly. 

Mitsuki heard he was popular with his female classmates( _ and some boys also looked to him, but where shy about that for an unknown reason _ ). Seeing such a normally stoic person with a genuine expression like that... it must've been what convinces his class to go in exam days.

It was a good incentive, and Mitsuki slowly grew to like it. He was surprised to find that, years after graduating the academy and even becoming a jonin, both teachers were still doing the races. Neji managed to win a couple of times, but something told the man with blue hair that he let his mentor win in purpose. A gut feeling.

(They were still strong. Maybe they didn't carry them anymore, but they did race alongside Metal, Houki and him from time to time. It was a small thing that always managed to warm his heart.)

**Author's Note:**

> What do you think of the story? Did you like it?


End file.
